The Fertility Institute of Hawaii

April 2, 2012 at 11:39 AM HST - Updated June 26 at 4:11 PM

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) Oh, baby! Our islands are giving birth to a new trend in tourism. Hopeful couples are coming here for a Hawaiian "fertility" holiday, and in our Small Business in Hawaii Works segment, the Fertility Institute of Hawaii is helping those couples with specialized care.

On a visit to the center, we watched on monitors - as a wife's egg was fertilized by her husband's sperm. The miracle of life right under a microscope.

"We do pay great attention to detail," says the center's Dr. John Frattarelli. "We individualize every cycle for every patient."

The Fertility Institute of Hawaii opened just two years ago. Already, it's gone from one employee to 20, and the office space is expanding. Doctor Frattarelli says the need is there. "We work very hard at making sure that we stay on the cutting edge. We do research. I participated in research for the last 20 years."

That research, knowledge, and collaboration with mainland counterparts have provided them some of the best success rates for pregnancy in country.

Dr. Frattarelli also travels from Oahu to Maui and the Big Island to treat patients. No other reproductive specialist does that.

While he heads to the neighbor islands, international visitors are seeking him out. "We are now actually starting to see a lot of patients come here for a kind of Hawaii infertility holiday."

In the past year, patients from China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe have come here for a week or two. "They've seen our success rates, and they're things that we can do in our office that maybe they may not have the opportunity to do in their country."

They're also one of only a handful of centers in the U.S. developing an "egg" bank - similar to a sperm bank - which, up until a few years ago, wasn't possible.

As reproductive experts make huge gains, the Fertility Institute of Hawaii plans be right in the mix. For more information, check out its website: www.ivfcenterhawaii.com.